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Monday, August 25, 2014

To New York progressives: Vote for Teachout in primary!

By Marc Jampole

New York State could serve as a model of how progressives
can move the right-of-Eisenhower Democratic Party back towards the left. Andrew
Cuomo, New York’s version of Barack Obama, is running for reelection as governor
of the Empire State. But first there’s the little matter of the September 9
primary in which Cuomo faces Zephyr Teachout, a very progressive professor of
law at Fordham University.

Cuomo has essentially run the state of New York by looking
rightward. He put a cap on property
taxes and wants to lower taxes for businesses. He blocked New York City Mayor
Bill De Blasio’s attempt to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund pre-schools,
preferring to take money from the existing state budget, which means other
programs will do without. Cuomo is an ardent supporter of charter schools, a
conservative initiative originated to bust teachers’ unions and has proven to
underperform and undercut funding for public schools. And like President Obama, Cuomo is too fast
to make deals with Republicans that continue the disastrous economic policies
of the past 30+ years.

Let’s not forget about the whiff of corruption now emanating
from the Cuomo body politic. Cuomo empanelled a state commission to investigate
corruption in government and then dismantled it when it started turning over
the rocks of his administration. In the best case scenario, Cuomo is exercising
too much power in an effort to subvert democracy. The worst case would involve
a cover-up of the kind of unethical and often illegal crony capitalism that seems
to plague Republican governors these days.

Cuomo does support gay marriage and tends to speak and vote
progressive on most social issues, but so do virtually every Democrat and a
growing number of Republicans nowadays. He did pass one of the toughest gun
control laws in the country after the Newtown mass murders, for which he should
be applauded.

Teachout has no chance of beating Cuomo in the primary, but
every vote she gets should turn Cuomo’s head a little bit to the left. If Teachout
could get more than 45% of the vote, it would send a strong message to Cuomo to
shift leftward on economic issues.

Which is exactly what Cuomo doesn’t want to hear and doesn’t
want to do. That’s why the Governor sued to keep Teachout off the ballot and then
appealed when he lost. Even though he knows the odds are overwhelmingly in his
favor, he does not want to have to listen to progressives. It would upset the
corporate bankers who back him and who might up the ante if he decides to run
for president of the United States.

The worst that can happen by voting for Teachout is that she
wins, which will be very good for New York State and the nation. The Republican
Rob Astorino, a former Catholic radio personality, is far too right-wing for
New York State. While it’s probable that conservatives would pour tens of millions
of dollars into a campaign against the relatively unknown Teachout, the
Democrats also have a ton of money for whoever the candidate for governor of
New York happens to be. I’m confident
any Democrat will beat Rob Astorino in New York State, especially if turnout is
high. And it stands to reason that more Democrats would come out to vote for a
face fresh than they would for the incumbent expected to steamroll
Astorino. In other words, if Teachout
won the primary, she would also win the election.

What we have then is a win-win situation for progressives.
By voting for Teachout in the Democratic primary, New York voters can send a
message to Andrew Cuomo—and every Democrat considering a run for the presidency.

If it weren’t for the entertainment value, I’d be pleased that Texas Governor Rick Perry is foundering in the Republican presidential race. After all, Governor Perry, who is in an unprecedented fourth term as chief executive of the nation's second-largest state, still might get the Republican nomination for president. If that happens there’s no telling what the voters might be fooled into doing. Just look at how far George W. Bush got.